The technical sector involved in this patent is that of motor-driven curtains, and mainly that of household curtains of the type that are installed on rails and of the type that move along the corresponding rail, in which the rail is fitted with endless cords, so that the movement of the cord does not alter its double length, which only moves in accordance with the curtain movement.
Fixed systems for curtain-driving are available on the market. These require connection to the electricity supply, a special rail and a system for driving them. They work out expensive, and especially difficult to arrange due to the great variety of possibilities and types of curtain that can be fitted.
There are diverse patents for operating blinds or shutters which consists of small simply-secured devices, amongst which we could mention:
U.S. Pat. No. 76,556 (EP0702855) discloses mini-blind operation system, consisting of a motor and a housing which sustains the motor and the battery, with the motor being coupled to the drive rod of a slat shutter, and with a selector driving the movement or opening of the slats by means of a light pick-up inside the corresponding room, or by means of a remote control operated by the user.
EP0482252, for a control device for Venetian blinds and curtains, consists of an infrared remote control device for Venetians blinds and curtains, which includes a housing in which two motors are mounted, one of these having an axle with a wheel and slot in this to pull a cord and the other having an extended axle with a wheel to pull the cord with a slot and a ball chain wheel. This has a pair of pressure rollers located at the ends of the plates with two springs, mounted through the plates so that the pressure rollers are forced towards the slots the slots of the wheels which guide the cords to press on the wheels valid for different thicknesses of cords. It has a sensor to operate the curtain or Venetian blind by means of remote control.
U.S. Pat. No. 27,836 (EP0615081) for control by two or more electrical motors, constitutes a complex mechanism for curtain operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,112 consists of a device for operation of curtain rails, provided with an electric motor and a pulley which moves the cord, the device being fixed to the wall and the cord requiring two stops placed at predetermined positions at the cord. It works through a remote control device which allows opening or closing the curtain, but does not allow to stop it at any desired position, and the device is not autonomous, since it must be fixed to the wall.
AT 301089 consists of a device for operating curtain cords which is held on the cord lower loop by means of a pulley. It comprises an electric motor, means for electric feeding such as a plug and a transformer, and an operation device provided with wires. The extreme positions of the curtain are determined by stops. This device is not autonomous since it requires the proximity of a plug for plugging the device. Furthermore the remote control system disclosed is by means of a wire.
This invention covers a motor-driven unit that can be remotely operated for moving curtains or similar fitted on rails, which is installed by simply hanging this from the curtain, and which can possibly be secured to the corresponding wall, which does not require any installation, and which has an integrated load means, with a set of pulling and pushing rollers arranged so as to form a self-adjustable clutch.
A system for energy-saving it also included is the design, by means of which, since this is a motor-driven unit which is basically independent, it solves the problem of the relatively high consumption of the remote control receives, which can use up the battery in a short time, even when not being used.
The motor-driven unit which constitutes this invention has a circuit which includes a power-saving system which solves said problem with the electricity consumption.